Finest-graded Inverted Jenny sets record during Siegel's second day of WSS-NY sales

Jul 1, 2016, 11 AM

This 1¢ Franklin vertical coil pair with government-applied perforations sold for $322,000 at the May 31 Robert A. Siegel auction in New York City.

This 1918 Jenny Invert airmail error stamp, position 58 from the original pane of 100, sold for slightly more than $1.35 million on May 31 during a Robert A. Siegel auction at World Stamp Show-NY 2016 in New York City.

A used imperforate strip of three 1902 4¢ Ulysses S. Grant stamps with privately applied Schermack type III oblong perforations sold at a May 31 Robert A. Siegel auction for $322,000.

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By Matthew Healey, New York Correspondent

They came, they saw, they raised their paddles.

For the tens of thousands of visitors attending World Stamp Show-NY 2016, a remarkable string of auctions by five different firms over six days brought excitement and opportunity during late May and early June.

Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries kicked off the action on Sunday, May 29, with a pair of big-name sales: the William H. Gross collection of Hawaii, and the second part of the Steven Walske collection of trans-Atlantic mail between the United States and France.

Christoph Gaertner, of Germany, picked up the gavel on Monday, May 30, with a day-long session devoted to worldwide rarities that included an impressive selection of U.S. and Confederate postmasters’ provisionals.

Siegel resumed on Tuesday, May 31, with a record-breaking sale of the highest-graded example of the iconic American airmail rarity, the Inverted Jenny, followed by other U.S. rarities.

Wednesday, June 1, saw Schuyler Rumsey celebrate his firm’s 20th anniversary with a sale of U.S. and worldwide rarities, including U.S. Official issues collected by Robert L. Markovits, while Thursday saw the Daniel F. Kelleher firm’s offering of the Alfred J. Capurro collection of worldwide, mostly mint stamps.

H.R. Harmer, a member of the Global Philatelic Network, wrapped things up on Friday, June 3, with the award-winning Erivan Haub collection of U.S. and Confederate postmasters’ provisionals, among many other items.

Linn's Stamp News is breaking them all down in a multi-part U.S. Auction Roundup series:

Siegel opened its second day of sales at the international show with the finest-graded example of the Inverted Jenny, the famous 24¢ airmail error of 1918 with a Curtiss JN-4 biplane, nicknamed a Jenny, misprinted upside-down. The sale was described in detail in Linn’s issue of June 27.

Just one sheet of 100 of the error stamps ever reached the public, and many are off-center or faulty in some way. Not so this example.

Coming from position 58 in the original sheet, it was graded extra fine-superb by Professional Stamp Experts. When last sold in 2005, this splendid example fetched $577,500. This time, in front of an overflow crowd of showgoers, it smashed all records to go for $1,351,250, including Siegel’s 15 percent buyer’s premium.